As “neighbors” within the confines of the railroad industry, people of Blair County, especially those residing in and around Altoona, will continue to be sympathetic toward residents of East Palestine, Ohio, where a fiery Norfolk Southern train derailment on Feb. 3 caused serious upheaval in their lives.

An Associated Press article published in the Mirror’s April 26 edition told how some families, displaced from their homes either as the result of the derailment itself or the still-continuing cleanup, still are experiencing uncertainty and trauma over what their new-normal lives will be.

For now, they describe their situation as life in limbo, not knowing how their future ultimately will shake out.

Meanwhile, thousands of East Palestine residents, who had been accustomed daily to hearing the sounds of trains passing through the town, and who generally gave little or no thought to prospects for a local accident involving one of the “steel monsters,” no longer feel as safe as they formerly felt.

Added to that is fearfulness about whether some East Palestine residents might develop medical problems stemming directly from the derailment and the toxic chemicals that the NS train was transporting.

Beyond that, residents continue to fear damage to their community’s water, soil and air, despite the commendable efforts of cleanup crews to avert problems of those kinds.

It is reasonable to conclude that Norfolk Southern has lost no small amount of the community’s respect, despite the company’s pledge to “make things right.”

About all that the railroad can hope for at this time is that no unforeseen derailment-related problems develop and that the community comes to appreciate the manner in which the company is handling the cleanup.

Still, community members’ patience will be tested as warm-weather months settle in. Removal of contaminated soil is expected to take another two or three months, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, and removal of toxic chemicals from two creeks might take longer than that.

East Palestine residents who the Associated Press interviewed talked about the challenges involved in temporary living arrangements. Blair County residents can understand the inconveniences those “neighbors to the west” continue to encounter each day as they await a time of normalcy.

Blair County and Altoona residents have grounds to reflect on the chaos that would have been triggered if the Feb. 3 derailment had occurred in downtown Altoona, rather than in Ohio.

Much of the center city likely would have been shut down, people would have been prevented from going to work and who knows how many of the city’s physical attributes might have been deemed off-limits for an extended period.

There is another possible reality that might not have been recognized here initially; a cleanup involving large buildings positioned close together presumably would be a bigger challenge for cleanup crews than the kind of smaller structures that dominate East Palestine. Much more cleanup would be necessary.

The fate of the railroad industry rests on the foundation of reliability. Regarding reliability, East Palestine is putting the Norfolk Southern segment of the industry to a different kind of test.

Hopefully, East Palestine and the railroad communities watching for new positive developments related to its current cleanup won’t be disappointed.